Galwegian senator, Alice-Mary Higgins, is calling on graduates of all third-level education institutions in the west of Ireland to register to vote in the new Seanad education constituency.
She says this will ensure concerns from along the Atlantic seaboard are better heard in the corridors of power in Dublin.
Whilst canvassing in Galway city centre last week for the upcoming Seanad election on January 29, Senator Higgins (Ind ) said the expansion of the franchise to include all graduates – currently restricted to National University of Ireland and Trinity College graduates only – means potential for a greater voice for the west of Ireland in the Oireachtas.
“In Galway, current and historic graduates of GMIT – now ATU – should register for their senate votes by next week,” she said. “It’s important to note: current graduates of UCG or NUIG need to re-register too. This amounts to what will be a new university constituency, and graduates of all the ITs and other colleges along the western seaboard, including UL, should register to vote for the Seanad.”
Following a recent Supreme Court decision, Irish citizens who hold a third-level degree from any Irish college may vote in a new six-seat, Higher Education constituency after June, 2025. The deadline for registration on www.seanadvoter.ie is next Thursday, January 23.
“The Seanad matters,” says Higgins, who leads a group of independent senators called the Civil Engagement Group, including senators Lynn Ruane, Frances Black and Eileen Flynn. “It has lead debates and framed many important issues over recent years, especially in social justice, LGBT issues and women’s reproductive rights.”
Higgins claims to have used her senatorship to influence 70 legislative changes since first elected. She says her main accomplishments concern new laws on coercive control, planning legislation, removing data protection exceptions for public bodies, climate action, Mother and Baby homes and – with Senator Ruane – legislation on Non Disclosure Agreements.
Senator Higgins grew up in Galway, and is the daughter of Sabina Higgins and President Michael D Higgins. First elected to the senate in 2016 as the first successful female candidate on the NUI panel in 35 years, Higgins has sponsored over 20 bills in the Oireachtas, including the Mandate for Nature Bill, Quality Public Procurement Bill and the Occupied Territories Bill. This bill aims to ban trade between Ireland and Israel’s illegal settlements on Palestinian land, and is anticipated to be a major issue for the incoming government.
Former UCG Student Union president, Senator Rónán Mullen from Ahascragh, Adrian Cummins, chief executive of the Restaurant Association of Ireland, and former parliamentarians Anne Rabbitte (FF ), Sean Kyne (FG ) and Pauline O’Reilly (GP ) are other high-profile Seanad hopefuls from Galway.
